I just read an article that claims that binge drinking prevents birth control pills from metabolizing and working correctly. What are your thoughts on this? This is especially concerning to us college students!
Party-er on the Pill
Dear Party-er,
Short answer: even binge drinking shouldn't affect how the pill works. The theory, I suppose, is that liver damage brought on by drinking can affect the pill's metabolism. First, most collegians escape with their livers intact, despite nights of binging. It takes years of alcoholism to induce permanent liver damage (luckily for many of my friends from college). But even if you were to drink enough to damage your liver, the pill wouldn't be metabolized as well as usual, so there would actually be higher levels of hormone in your blood...so the pill's effectiveness should remain the same. The one thing, though, that could affect effectiveness is if you take your pill and commence drinking to the point of vomiting up the pill shortly after taking it. While I can't imagine bringing your pills to a kegger, I guess in theory you could take your pill and get sick while pre-gaming. So take your pill in the mornings on the nights you plan to party.
Are the new birth control pills new and improved, or just new?
I can't resist a mention, though, of how binge drinking will put you at risk of other unhappy sex consequences, like STDs (if you're too drunk to use a condom) and date rape...I want you to be safe from all of this, not just unplanned pregnancy.
Take care, Dr. Kate
Related: Find a better birth control! Read this ultimate guide and stop settling. A method you'll love is out there
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